AI IMPACT · LEGAL

Will AI replace lawyers and in-house counsel?

It speeds up research and review, but advice, strategy and responsibility stay human.

An AI can get a decision or a statute wrong: you need a person to check, and to own it.

See what AI changes in your role

Updated 16 October 2026

Job tasks, one by one

Across 10 common tasks of lawyers and counsel: 4 stay with you, 4 are done with AI, 2 can be handed to it.

That's still youWithout you, it doesn't get done.4

Advise on a risk and decideAdvice commits your responsibility.
Negotiate a contractYou need to read the other side and know where to give.
Represent the company facing another partyTrust and credibility are personal.
Support leadership in a crisisYou need composure and judgment.

Do it with AIAI prepares, you decide.4

Research case lawAI finds leads; you check every source.
Draft a first contractAI proposes a base; you adapt it to the file.
Analyse a contract receivedAI flags risky clauses; you decide.
Update document templatesAI applies changes; you check every clause.

Hand it to AIAI does it, you check.2

Summarise long documentsAI summarises; you read what counts.
Compare two versions of a contractAI shows the differences.

Ranking made by aviza for lawyers and counsel, from the studies listed at the bottom of the page. It says what AI can do today, not what your role will become.

You're a lawyer: which of these tasks are really yours?

Your kit ranks the tasks of your own role, in your company, from your resume and what you tell us.

Rank my tasks

Where to start

YOUR FIRST TRY, THIS WEEK

1Take a public template contract, with no confidential data.
2Ask an AI to summarise it and list risky clauses, with their references.
3Check every reference in the official sources. You will quickly see where it stops, and why people need you.

TO HIGHLIGHT IN AN INTERVIEW

Show that you can both use AI and govern its use: confidentiality, checking sources, complying with the AI Act.

Go further

Three things to know about this job

Even on law, AI still needs review

JobBench gave AIs real assignments, including lawyer tasks. Across all occupations tested, the best AI correctly completed only 46% of the work asked. In law, the rest can cost a lot.

JobBench, May 2026

Advising, a skill that still needs you

Stanford ranked 27 skills by how much they still need a person even with AI. Advising others comes 9th, in the top half of the ranking.

Stanford University, Future of Work with AI Agents, 2025

The AI Act, a new legal project

The EU AI Act classifies some uses as high-risk and requires companies to train their teams. Knowing which tools the company uses, and which are high-risk: that compliance work starts with legal.

EU AI Act (EU) 2024/1689

What stays human in this job

Legal judgment

Knowing what really matters in a file.

Strategy

Negotiating, anticipating, choosing the right moment.

Confidentiality

Protecting sensitive information about the company and people.

Frequently asked questions

Can you give confidential documents to an AI?

Not to just any one. Before pasting a contract or personal data into an AI tool, check your company or firm rules and the tool's terms. That is a skill expected of lawyers today.

Can AI get the law wrong?

Yes. It can cite a decision that does not exist or a misdated article. Everything it produces must be checked in official sources before it is used.

What does the AI Act change for a lawyer?

It creates a new advisory field: inventory the company's AI tools, identify high-risk ones, check that people are informed and teams are trained. Lawyers who master it quickly become essential.

Studies we draw on

YOUR KIT, WRITTEN FOR YOUR ROLE

You protect the company.
Your kit protects your next application.

Legal work is hard to measure: a risk avoided does not show. Your kit starts from your files, your sector and your answers to make visible what you have protected, negotiated, simplified. It also prepares you to talk about AI with precision, which is now expected of a lawyer.

Resume

Your files by their stakes: contracts negotiated, disputes avoided, projects supported.

Your specialty (contracts, employment, compliance, data…) and the keywords legal teams search for.

Introduction

Three minutes to show that you move projects forward, not only that you say no.

Interview

Questions on how you manage risk, confidentiality and governing AI tools.

And tomorrow, with AI?

What AI changes in your role, the AI Act's place in your job, and your 90-day plan.

Create my kit for my role

You upload your resume and answer about 8 questions, speaking or typing.